Indian workers decrease by 35% in Kuwait, increase in Qatar by 31%

14/01/2019

KUWAIT CITY: Statistics published by the Times of India Newspaper showed a significant decline in the number of immigration permits granted to Indians working in the Gulf region in 2018 – 19 percent or 295,000 permits compared to 374,000 in 2017, reports Alrai daily.

In addition, the number of Indians working in Kuwait decreased by seven percent – 52,000 in 2018 compared to 56,000 in 2017.

The last five years witnessed a remarkable decline in the number of Indians working in the region as the number of immigration permits decreased by 62 percent from 2014 to 2018 and by 35 percent in Kuwait.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) issued the biggest number of permits for Indian workers – 35 percent, followed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and Kuwait – 65,000 and 52,000 respectively.

On the other hand, KSA lost its position as the most attractive GCC country for Indian workers. The number of Indians working in Saudi Arabia from 2014 to 2018 reached 329,000 and it decreased by 80 percent over the last five years as the current number now stands at about 65,000.

Qatar is the only Gulf country that witnessed increase in the number of Indians in 2018 – 31 percent increase or 32,000 compared to 25,000 in 2017